Vegan options are more expensive than their nonvegetarian counterparts. Can I afford to go vegan?!
Answers:
Yes, vegetarian products are far less expensive than meat, or in Aus anyway, If you go for tofu and fancy cheeses it can be expensive, but less. I just stick to vegetables, fresh mainly, some canned, tomatoes, baby corn
If you're talking processed foods like packaged veggie burgers or frozen meals, vegan "cheese" & ice cream, etc. then yeah, it's more expensive. But you don't want to be eating those things all the time anyway. You'll probably actually spend less as a vegan than a vegetarian or omni if you just buy fresh produce, some frozen veggies, canned or dried beans, grains in the bulk dept., and so on. If you want faux meats, they're simple & cheap to make yourself...a block of tofu is usually less than $2, vital wheat gluten (to make seitan) is maybe $3-$4. TVP and beans are even cheaper than tofu. I usually spend maybe $30 a week on groceries, a little more if I get something like ice cream or I'm out of some staples. So I'm sure you could afford to go vegan. :)
As stated above, it depends on how you're consuming your food. Are you buying prepackaged or specialty shop foods? If you're cooking and using whole foods (not the store, but ingredients that can be found in a garden), then you can stay cheap, especially if you're near a local market.
http://lavitavegan.blogspot.com/
Try growing some, as ultimately unprocessed, raw and organic is where you might be headed. What costs more is eating the variety of food that other people don't even know the name of. You may be surprised how far your food will go.
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